John Watts Make him c as he says!

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1 THINK you can contrast two significant aspects of this conference. On the one hand there was the 91% vote for Kinnock by the constituencies, which was people who have hopes, I don't think they have many illusions in Kinnock, but they have hopes that he can do some thing to get another Labour government.

On the other hand, you had a very large meeting - up to 1,000 people - very enthusiastically listening to and applauding Gerry Adams.

So you can't put a simple formula on what has happened at this conference. There have been some big. opportunities for the left but also some very big dangers.

There's a possibility • that if Kinnock really gets a grip on the Party, using this strong feeling that we should give the new leadership a chance, then the lett could to a certain extent be isolated as a result.

If in that situation Kinnock is able to push the witch-hunt ahead or moves are made in the direction of one member, one vote, then it coula begin to alter the relationship of forces in the Party.

On the other hand, the fact that we have a phenomenon like the Labour Committee on Ireland meeting with Gerry Adams speaking, shows the possibilities of breaking from traditional Labourism.

It was not just a beliet in a united Ireland that was expressed by the attendance at that meeting, it was also to" varying degrees, a recognition of the legitimacy of the struggie of the Irish people and especially Sinn Fein and the IRA. That, to some extent, is breaking from one aspect of Labourism, the essence of which is support for the ruling class of Britain.

The revolutionary left needs to organise on a principled basis of struggle.

There will be tensions in the Tribune Group. There will be those who are prepared to go along with the Kinnock leadership as we can see from some of the people who voted for Kinnock, people we regarded as being on the hard left like Tony Banks:

On the other hand we see the emergence and consolidation to a certain extent of the Campaign Group of MPs. An important part of the left organising will be to have a good relationship with the Campaign Group of MPS.

Confident

Kinnock must feel very confident that he's got this massive vote, and even encouraged to do things he wouldn't otherwise have done because of the size of the vote, but on the other hand, they ran into so much trouble over the expulsions that they will be reluctant to get IOHN HARRIS Kinnock involved in any the next period.

On policy I think there will be a tendency for conference to say one thing and for statements in the House of Commons to say something different. It will be necessary to oppose this in a systematic, organised way.

Kinnock more or less launched a crusade on health cuts here and if that sets into motion mass activity in the struggle against the cuts, big pressure to get health authorities not to carry them out, big demonstrations and so on, that could be very dangerous for Kinnock. He has a tightrope to walk there.

We on the left have to make sure that there is no backsliding but we could appear just as shrill critics if we don't take into account the mood for giving the new leadership a chance.

We should take the things that Kinnock says he wants to do, especially anything of a campaigning nature and fight to make sure that he carries it out.

We should demand that Kinnock helps to build the October 22 CND demonstration by calling for a full mobilisation, by speaking up and down the country and so on.

We, should also try to tie him down, use what he says about local government cuts, to force him to clarify his position on whether he will support Labour local authorities who are prepared to break the law in the struggle against the Tory-imposed cuts.

Personally, I don't think he'll touch that kind of approach with a barge-pole, but he'll be telling them in effect to go like lambs to the slaughter if he tells them not to break the law but struggle within the legal framework.

I think that will be understood by rank and file activists, by left council leaderships, if he acts as a brake on them waging a real struggle against the cuts.

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